Abstract
A double-stage regeneration concept has been applied to a rotary dehumidifier to achieve a high efficient desiccant cooling process. In this concept, regeneration zone of the dehumidifier was divided into two zones. One was pre-regeneration zone where the desiccant rotor was regenerated by warm air heated at the sensible heat exchanger, and the other was heating regeneration zone where the rotor was further regenerated by hot air heated up to the controlled temperature at a heating system. In this paper, the influence of the area ratio of these two zones on the dehumidifying/cooling performance and energy efficiency of this desiccant system were mainly discussed at several levels of the regeneration temperature, supply air velocity and inlet air humidity. Experimental results indicated that the area ratio of the heating regeneration zone should be optimized to produce a sufficient dehumidifying/cooling performance with high energy efficiency, considering humidity requested in supply air. It was also found that the amount of energy input was rather decreased than the decrease of the cooling performance as the area ratio of the heating regeneration zone decreased, and this tendency was more remarkable at higher regeneration temperature. Finally, the double-stage regeneration was confirmed to be an effective operating method for the desiccant cooling process equipped with a otary dehumidifier.
